


Edek Hekant

by Gul Lorian Drint (MintyMar)



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Bajor, Bajorans, Brainwashing, Cardassia, Cardassians, Gen, M/M, Multi, Occupation of Bajor, Original Character(s), Other, Psychological Torture, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:07:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24301099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintyMar/pseuds/Gul%20Lorian%20Drint
Summary: Set 40 years into the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor. Will time jump 10 years in the future after sometime. Follows an attack and capture of a Bajoran during a covert attack on a Bajoran Resistance cell. Original Character fiction. Each chapter has superscripts relating to certain vocab with footnotes at the end of the chapter. Pulling language from Extended trek, and borrowing words to fill in the language.Gaieln has been forced into a corner, flashed with garnetal memories. Interned, part of a vengeful revenge plot, what could there be in store for him? Held between the control of two Cardassian's, will he be forced to collaborate against his own people?
Kudos: 3





	1. Hăcet Çlaykothoul

Chapter 1:

Hăcet Çlaykothoul

It was dusk, sun starting to dissipate behind the horizon. From the doorway stood a woman, calling for her son. "Gaieln! Gaieln!" Her voice carried, "It's time for supper!" The boy, Gaieln heard his mother and recalled himself back to their homestead. As he reached the yard, he saw his father slip in as well, having just come back from a meeting. 

They lived simply, only due to being pushed out of the major city by the Occupation. Their meal consisted of basic starch, and some protein provided by the Resistance. Simple and filling, just enough. A prayer to the Prophets for the bounty that has been provided. 

Gaieln's father broke the silence after they started, "I do have good and bad news to speak about tonight, " glancing over to Gaieln "Though I'll start off with the good. Our Cell leaders have approved you, Gaieln, to start your training and to help fight against the Occupation with us." A gleam of excitement washed over Gaieln's face. He had been waiting to hear about the outcome for several days now. Joining the Resistance, and rebelling against Cardassia has been important to him and his family. 

"What is the bad news honey?" Gaieln's mother inquired rather sheepishly. His father sighed heavily, "There have been reports that several Resistance cells are to be struck by the Occupation. When this will occur is not known, but we do know that it will be soon." He grimly spoke. Gaieln had heard of the Occupation's force, of what they do. His parents were always open about happenings going on within Bajor, the resistance, and the Cardassian Occupation. "We'll be prepared for them!" Gaieln exclaimed, but his father's expression stayed grim; "It's hard to know for sure, we have been preparing supplies and weapons for the past week, but since we do not know when they will strike...we just have to be cautious." 

Unbeknownst to them though, Cardassia was to strike in the dead of night, tonight, against them. They continued their meal in silence, contemplating the current news and the unknown uncertainty. There wasn't much else to say at this point, the threat was looming and they were already preparing. Once finished, Gaieln and his mother cleared the table, cleaning up together in the kitchen. 

His Mother hummed a tune to herself as she washed the kitchenware, while Gaieln dried and put them away. While running a bowl back to its home, he thought he heard something from the dining room. Gaieln squashed the notion and continued putting away the bowl. He then heard it again, louder albeit low toned. A small crash was heard after, a chair falling, stumbling foot falls. His Father rushing in through the curtained door frame, blood and entrails gushing from his abdomen. His father tried to speak, but only garbled wet noises made it out before he stumbled and fell to the ground. 

"Get back and get down Gaieln!" His Mother quickly spoke, arming herself with the knife she had finished cleaning. Gaieln quickly skirted over to crouch against a cabinet as his mother went to observe her husband, the lake of sanguine engulfing him. 

Heavy foot falls came toward the kitchen; pushing past the cloth, entered in a Cardassian male. His armoured arms and hands dripping with the richness of garnets; boots besmirching the ground further. The Cardassian's attention flashed right to Gaieln, huddled in the corner, abhorrence plastered across the boy's face. The man chortled in twisted glee when he glanced at the boy's mother, crumpled over her dead husband. He started towards the youth, but his mother jumped up from the ground, "NO, you will not harm him!" She yelled at the Cardassian, getting in between the man and Gaieln. 

With Such repose the Cardassian apaced the crag in his coated hand into the woman's center; snaking from entry, down and across. Her own knife clattering to the floor. Warm blood bursting through her lacerations, knees buckling. Before she could collapse the man grabbed her from around her neck, forcibly holding her upright. "Tsk, tsk. If only you hadn't gotten in the way of Cardassia, your petty ideology, and the worthlessness. We want nothing more but to coexist. We provide you with so much more than you could as a people." Fingers gripping only tighter around her throat. With his other hand he shoved his fingers through the gushing trenches, reaching and gasping thews and viscera before evulsing it from the woman, expelling her more. 

The Cardassian remembered he had an audience to attend to though. He released the grasp on the woman's throat, her body slumping to the ground, joining the other. Gaieln had been frozen in his spot, watching in horror as the man completed his task. He surveyed his options, but he had very little training and was not thinking clearly enough. There was only one entry point and currently there would be no way around the imposing Cardassian. There was nothing to use for defense close by. His mother's dropped knife resting near the imposing man. 

The Cardassian could see the boy franticly thinking about his next steps he would fail in. A perverse crack parted his bemused self. He had no plans to exterminate the boy; on the contrary to his mission of decimation of this resistance cell, all Bajoran juveniles would be rounded up and sent to re-education camps. A brilliant idea in the wake of Gul Dukat's abolishion of juvenile labor. 

He took several steps toward the boy, stepping over both the adult Bajorans. He knew the boy couldn't escape from the room, from him. Gaieln squirmed further back in his spot, but he met with the wall pressed up against him. 

The man stopped close to the boy, crouching down to the boy's level, tears springing from his averted eyes. He grabbed Gaieln by his hair, curling his fingers within and yanking the boy's head up. Gaieln cried out from the pain and the Cardassian could see the fear that flashed across the boy's eyes. "Come, let's play, " he spoke disparagingly as he stood up, jerking the boy by his hair to his feet as well. Gaieln tried to writher away, but the man held steadfast schlepping him toward his downed parents. The man flippantly kicked one of the adults to which there was no response. He unfurled his bloodied fingers from the boy, pitching him down into the tarn of sanguine that surrounded his parents. Blood coated his hands and legs when he landed on the ground. The Cardassian knelt down to the ground behind Gaieln, encompassing him. "Don't you want to play?" The man asked rhetorically in the boy's ear as he flipped the body of Gaieln's father over. Eyes wide open, mouth agape with blood, "Tsk, such a pity you Bajorans have to resist. Such a waste of labor." Animosity heavy from his lips as he slipped the crag into the boy's hand; gripping the boy's hand tightly around. "Now this game is simple," he started, bringing his other hand to clasp the other. He brought them to together to hold the crag, "All you have to do is," he raised both his and the boys arms up, and without another word swiftly swung the crag down to the hilt into Gaieln's father. The boy cried out, hands still being held to the crag by the Cardassian. He didn't have the strength to pull himself free, trapped between his dead parents and the man who caused it. 

Gaieln once again felt his arms being raised, crag catching on the internal flesh as the Cardassian forced this action. "NO! Plea..please..." the boy feebly tried to cry out, but his words went unheard as the Cardassian brought the crag back down into his father. "See how easy this game is boy~" he derided, repeating his action again. All Gaieln could do was cry as he was forced to repeatedly stab his own father. 

The Cardassian forced him to continue till his father's abdomen look like it had gone through a grinder, chunks of flesh strewn apart, mixing with the cold coagulating blood. The man released his grip on the boys hands, who released the crag from his bloodied grasp as well. Gaieln trembled, quietly sobbing at what he had done. He felt his hands being manipulated again by the man; forcing fingers into the open cavity of the dead man's. Gasping shredded, tepid organs, entrails. Squishing and feeling the insides of his father; the Cardassian pressed himself against the boy to dig deeper into the corpse. He struggled against the grip of the man. "We are all the same on the inside. Soft. Warm. Life is so easily extinguished with such soft bodies." Words piquantly spoken against the boy's ear. 

The Cardassian withdrew themselves from the minced gore, a resplendent sight to behold of his handiwork. Gaieln took the opportunity to try and snake his arms from the Cardassian's, but he only gripped them tighter. "You do not get to end the game when you want. No, I am the purveyor of this...and you have no rights to the rules." Smacked the man's ardent tone to his meaning. "A bonus round perhaps.... Yes, perhaps her heart. What a lovely sentimental keepsake to have for a trice. Then it, and they will rot and quell." He lowly slithered out. He did release the boy for the moment; shifting to reposition the body of the Bajoran woman horizontally to them, Gaieln paralyzed in his spot. He found his trusty crag, and reposition it and himself to manipulate the boy's own. The touch of the man brought Gaieln back to reality, back to the game he was entrenched with this Cardassian. The crag came plunging down, in the middle of the ribcage, a squelching splintering crack resounded. The boy gasped and his body jolted at the power used to make such an impact. "Nothing can resist Cardassia. Those that do will be eradicated to preserve the balance of our races." Pulling himself closer to the boy, encroaching against him to force the crag across to break the ribcage further. The Cardassian yanked the crag out, dropping it and the boy's hands. Gaieln, trembling was shoved forward towards his splayed mother as the Cardassian grasped both sides of the cage and forced them apart like a cockle. Loud cracks and pops as the bones was forcefully moved revealing the woman's heart into view. 

"The color has dulled, but still a lovely specimen for a Bajoran rebel." A sarcastic flourish toward the lesser species. He once again grabbed his crag, intertwining it within the boy's. "We cut the love of the mother, as the softness toward their bairn cannot save them from their extirpation." The man enraptured in his words as he brought the crag to the arterial conduits, incisively severing the organ from the corpse. With the boy's hands still encapsulated he scooped the heart into their hands, pressing the boys hands firmly to the muscle. "A firm structure, feel the slick pustulant surface of the organic device that powers her and her pagh.1" The heart was turned about, caressed and pressed upon; almost slipping from their grip due to the dark blood. "Now, now, you wouldn't want to lose your mother for a second time tonight~" The mirth in the Cardassian's tone as he spoke. 

The man looked up from his ineffable scene, his eyes finding the glow of the family's chronometer2. The time showed that he was running behind, having spent much too long on playing with the boy in the carnage. He brought his eyes back down to the embranglement that he still held within his arms; the boy unmoving from the ordeal. He released the boy's imprisonment from him, Gaieln still clutching his mother's heart. "See how painless it can be if you follow what is asked of you. I ask you to play a game, and look, the grand prize of them all is only for you!" Gaieln didn't see it as such as he stared at his mother's heart in his hand, at the two people who were his parents, now gone, dead. Would they be accepted by the Prophets? His head tilting further down, tears pattering down once more, splashing upon the organ in his hands. 

The Cardassian slithered his hand into a side pouch and pulled out a carefully selected hypospray 3. With his other hand he went and caressed the side of the boy's head, intertwining his fingers through the blood coated hair. He wrested the boy's head roughly, exposing his slim neck. The hypospray went into place, and the Cardassian engaged the device. It's effects immediate and the boy drooped back against the offending man, being drugged into slumber. He placed the boy in-between his parent's, clutching the heart of his mother. Manipulating the limbs of the boy's parents, he took to making it look as if they were clutching their precious child in comfort. Oh how he wished he would be there when the juvenile awoke in this scene he placed. A sadistic grin plasters as he assembled his vision. 

He glanced again at the chronometer once his work was finished. He only had a short time before he would be required to show face and to help lead his battalion against the rest of this Bajoran Resistance cell. He found his crag and then disappeared from the home as quietly as he had entered. He slipped away in the dead of night, never seen by any other Bajoran as he regrouped with the throngs of other Cardassian soldiers. Thanks to the cover of night, no one question his coating of sanguine all over him from his regalement prior. He could see many were just itching to get out there and teach these Bajoran's absolute obedience with their deaths. It was the only way that Cardassia and Bajor could live in peace, if the dissentients were to only be no more. They threatened the Cardassia way of life, as the Occupation too had taken it's tolls on the lives of the Cardassia population. Bajorans had no more threat of starvation than the Cardassians did currently. They all gathered around a few giving a few words of celebrated encouragement. They all had their orders, their quadrants they were to hit and destroy. No one left alive except the juveniles for re-education. He may have been a Gul, but he had no piece to speak of at his men. He had done that previously before he left for his little excursion. He had assigned himself to the quadrant that the two Bajoran's lived in as to cover up the fact that he had instigated the attack early. They broke apart and off the Cardassians went, pillaging, dispatching. All dissents accounted for and executed. 

\---------------------------------------------- 

Gaieln awoke suddenly several hours later, pain in his head, in his arms, the sounds of people screaming, disrupters flaring. He found himself clutching the far squeezed organ in his hands, but the disturbing scene he found himself laying in was...grotesque. His mother and father draped over him, almost in comfort. The memories of what occurred came flooding back and he cried out again. He released his mother's heart from his hand and moved to free himself from the corpses. His body was covered in dried congealed blood from his parents. He spotted a glint of metallic hiding beneath his mother's leg. He reached for it, pulling it out he cut the flesh of his mother with it. It was the kitchen knife she had dropped when the Cardassian gutted her. 

The screaming died down, though only by his assumptions that the Cardassian attack was dying down. He had to get out of there, hide and keep away. He was on his own, he has to survive on his own. He paced the kitchen trying to bring his thoughts together. He knew they would back for him. It was disconcerting that he was still alive as it was. His concentration was broken when he heard the loud crash of the front door being busted through. He gripped the knife tighter as he heard multiple sets of heavy footfall's pounding their way through the home. One...no two Cardassian males entered through to the kitchen. One of them would be the same man who killed his parents. A sadistic grin plastered across his stern face, "Looks like they were hit already, " spoke the other man surveying the scene. "Obviously so, " came the other's reply. The other two Cardassians entered the kitchen as well. Gaieln's started to tremble, stuck in his place with four Cardassians. 

"Take him into custody, round him with the other juveniles." Ordered the commanding officer. The boy would be no match, even with the knife brandished. His eyes flickered back down to his handiwork and spotted the heart he had left with the boy discarded on the ground. "Aye Gul Drint," came a response from another. Drint took a few steps towards the corpses, pretending to show interest in the gory scene he plucked the heart up from the ground. Two of the other Cardassians stepped forward toward Gaieln, the boy taking a few steps back. Nowhere to evade them. He was easily disarmed, knife dropping to the ground by their strength alone; captured within their grip. He writhered and twisted, but met with stout resistance. Drint bent down to picked up the discarded knife the boy had held, within his other hand was the slightly shriveled heart. He stood imposing in front of the captured boy, "I believe you forgot your prize, " holding the rigid organ out to the boy, taunting him unbeknownst to the three other Cardassians. 

With a flourish Drint held the heart up to the wall and proceeded to jam the kitchen knife through it; impaling it, "No matter, it is unimportant. Take him to the encampment with the other juveniles!" He barked out the last order. The two that held the boy dragged him out of the kitchen and out the door. 

Once they were out of earshot, "He is not to be taken for intake right away. He is to be diverted with his close ties with the Resistance from what my sources report. He is to be sedated and outfitted with the Qual4 device...he needs to be _Interviewed_." He said to the remaining man, clearly aroused by the prospect of Interrogation in his tone. The soldier nodded his head, "Yes Sir!" Came in reply. Drint dismissed him as well and off the other went.

Once again Drint took in the pulchrituded scene, just as delicious as when he had participated in it's creation. He departed shortly after, making his way for the regroup. They had been re-making rounds, this time to confiscate any juvenile that hadn't been taken after their guardian's extermination. He made his way from the boys home, snaking down to the outskirts of the encampment. 

Once regrouped, he surveyed their emoluments, the juveniles they captured. A female Cardassian approached Drint, PADD5 in hand, "Gil Report?" Drint asked her, taking the PADD from her hand. "Most of the Bajoran juveniles taken are of young children, from the count we have 13 children, 5 babies, and one who may be a teen. We aren't sure as he fails to respond to anyone." 

"That is not surprising to hear; he is reported to be part of the Resistance group, therefore knows he has to hold his tongue. Even under threat." The woman nodded to Drint's response, his eyes still affixed to the padd. "You are to omit him from the initial intake reports as well. Once we start transporting, he is to be kept under watch and isolated from the others. When we arrive, he will be diverted from the rest of the juveniles where he will undergo an _interview_ to determine how entrenched he is with the Resistance." Drint deleted the intake entry for the boy on the PADD, handing it back to the woman. "Of course Gul, he will be omitted at the present time." Came her response before departing the commander to prepare for transport of the captives. 

Drint too departed, having to contact his Legate about the success of this attack. 

\------ 

1: Pahg – Soul of a Bajoran 

2: Chronometer – Clock 

3: Hypospray – Medical Jet Injector similar to hypodermic needle without the needle 

4: Qual – Device that can be controlled and can cause pain 

5: PADD – Personal Access Display Device, or PADD, a handheld computer interface 

6: Hăcet - Chaos 

7: Çlaykothoul - Traitor 


	2. Nou brocol lerayt edek?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his apprehension, Gaieln is transported back to a Cardassian Re-Education camp. He is diverted from the rest of the Juveniles and taken for an Interview with the Commanding Officer in charge of this encampment.

Chapter 2: 

Nou brocol lerayt edek? 

The boy had been drugged when they had gone into transport, needing him to be compliant. They had funneled him away from the other juveniles once they disembarked, the trip mostly a blur to him, the injection having made him only semi-aware of what was going on. Resistance was quite futile. He had to be dragged into the medical lab after not being able to himself, his body floating under the influence; unfortunately for Gaieln one of his handlers took it as him being uncooperative and smacked him around for his defiance. He was put under, and one of the Cardassian doctors installed the Qual into the nape of neck. Gaieln woke in a haze in a dimly lit room, hooked to several monitors and an arterial conduit port. He had been restrained against the bed he was laying upon. His head reeled as fragmented facts flooded his mind. He pulled against his restraints, but like all his previous attempts it was moot. He felt so tired and in pain, he didn't know what was happening to him...what would happen to him here. 

He drifted back off for some time, nowhere to go except the safe confines if his mind. He jolted awake to the touch of someone's fingers running across his arm. "Shhhhh, no need to be frightened little one," came a warm voice, unlike the other's he had dealt with previously. A female Cardassian stood next to him, who was taking his vitals, checking to make sure sensors were still in place. He abated when it seemed like she meant him no harm, though still observing her actions. Wondering what would happen to him next. She caressed his head as a form of comfort; she knew he must be afraid, unsure. She wasn't used to having to install a Qual on such a young person, but it is what Gul Drint ordered for the boy. 

She was satisfied with his recovery from the appliance installation, noting her findings in her PADD. Drint would be informed shortly that he was awake and ready to be taken to him. She could only imagine what was to await the child later. She looked down at him warmly, "You are doing well for the situation you are currently in. We edulcorated you; mire and ferrous covering your flesh almost completely. For as much as you had though, none of it seemed to have originated from you." She spoke softly, unaware of the truth of what transpired earlier and how the boy became drenched in blood. 

She withdrew from the juvenile and left him for her office. From there she reached out to her superior, "Gul Drint, the boy is awake and ready to be discharged to your possession." She reported over the communication device. "Very good, " came Drint's tersed reply. "Would you like him inundated with more Drogin1 before he is escorted?" She inquired. "No that won't be necessary; I need him coherent. That will be all, someone will be by shortly." "Aye, " came from her before their connection was terminated. 

She reentered the medical bay where the boy was laying, restrained to slab to. Making her way back, the boy's head moving to avert his eyes back to the woman, though without eye contact. He had been examining what he could of the room, limited by his bondage. "Now child, if you can promise to behave this time I won't have to sedate you. I am going to release you from _this_ captivity as you will be relocated promptly. Will you agree to behave?" She asked him; markedly his responses prior have been moot and despondent. Having worked with many juveniles, both Cardassian and Bajoran, she knew that compliance can be bred with choices...well with ultimatums that forced the only correct responses with very real threats as the only other choice. 

She waited for the boy to respond, but Gaieln only avoided her gaze. "I ask only once more, will you behave?" She curtly demanded, crossing her arms. Gaieln acquiesced with a nod after the Woman's tone changed. He didn't want to be sedated again, quelled and nebulous to what was tangible. With nonverbal consent of behavior, she unfolded her arms and started to unbind him. Once released she held her hand out for him to grab. He apprehensively took her hand and she slowly hoisted him to an upright sitting position. "Much better isn't it?" A sprightly rhetorical probe as she knew he wouldn't respond. 

He sat upon the slab getting to appraise the room further, disquieted as they waited for his chaperone. He didn't have to wait long though as a male Cardassian entered the medical bay; his attention snapped back to the imposing soldier. "Kiba'avzayn!"2 He spoke to the Medical officer as he approached the child and the Medical officer. In his hands he held the same constraints Gaieln arrived in. 

Gaieln opened his mouth to protest, but his voice failed him. "Eh, zerayd3 got yer tongue?" The man spoke in jest as he forced the pinion around the boy's bruised wrists. "Pakariy malinzayn ça'ads!"4 The man spoke to the woman before yanking the boy off the slab to his feet. Without another word the man started out of the room, towing the boy behind him by the restraints. 

\------ 

Drint sat at his office desk, tapping his fingers on the desk methodically yet aimless. He was waiting after all. Waiting for his detainee to make an appearance. From initial reports the boy had behaved in his acquisition, no struggle, no real response from the boy. The medical team on the other hand reported that they had to restrain him after he had been brought into the medical lab. Curious as the boy's previous attempts at resistance fizzled out with such puerility against Drint, against the male Gils that had held control over the boy. Drint found most medical officers were soft, especially against the younger juveniles; this occasion was no different it would seem. 

Drint's musing were interrupted by notice of guests at his office door. "Enter," he responded. The door opened to one of his Gil's escorting the juvenile into the lowly lit room. The boy, trammeled wrists in front of him stumbled as the Cardassian soldier pulled him further into the room. Gaieln's eyes widened when he saw who he was _invited_ to see. Panic flashed through him and he tried to wrestle himself from the soldier's grasp, though the Gil only gripped and pulled harder. "N...nn.n...no" he slurred out as he came closer to Drint's desk. That drew an amused smirk from Drint as the boy had been so mousy since his detainment. The Gil dragged him up the base of the platform Drint's desk sat upon, overlooking the rest of the room. "You may leave him there," he commanded. The Gil let his grasp go of the boy, almost propelling him to the ground due to the loss of the boy's coordination. "Dismissed!" Were the only other response Drint gave the soldier, who turned heel and left the room. 

The boy stood in front of the man, eyes downcast, averting the penetrative stare. Gaieln heard the scrape of the chair being pushed back as Drint removed himself to standing. The heavy thump of the man's boots drawing nearer. Heavier steps taken as the man descended the lithic steps. "Are you aware of why you are here?" Drint asked the boy, curious to see if the boy was adroit or nescient. After all, Drint's reports were typically sound. If the boy was a rebel or if he as uninitiated as he looked Drint would find the truth to that. He too wanted to instill truth, mould the moppet to serve only him and Cardassia; in reality this would mark the boy a Collaborator in the eyes of the majority of the Bajorans. 

"No?" chuckled from the man. He would have to break the child to be able to instill the absolute truth of Cardassia in him. "Who are you? What are you?" he derided. The boy only continued to stare at the ground, defiant by his silence alone. "Tchah," -he snaked his fingers through the tresses if the child,- "when I ask you something, you are to respond to me. Withholding will result in such unpleasantries for you." He yanked the boy's head to look up at him. "I know who and what you are child. _You are N_ _othing._ " He catechized as he released the grip on the boy. 

"Since you cannot seem to vacillate my requests, I suppose some substantiation is in order." He pulled out a small controller from a pocket, slipping the cover open exposing several buttons and a dial, along with a display panel. The dial set on level 1. He took a few steps away from the boy, pressing a few buttons, choosing where to localize. "I am a patient man so I will reiterate. Who are you? What are you?" 

Gaieln apprehensively brought his gaze up to look at the man. He saw the compact device in the other's hand. A remote perhaps, to what though he was unsure of. He shifted his eyes and locked contact with Drint's. "Good, maybe you're coming to your nous and will answer me." 

Gaieln nodded, keeping his eye contact, "I..I am Citron Gaieln. I am...I am a Bajoran-" "No, you are nothing. _Nothing."_ He insinuated, pressing the button below the dial. Gaieln cried out in pain, his wrists burning like they had been placed in a pyre. Moments pass and the pain subsides, as Drint releases the button. 

"With this device I can set it to anywhere on your body, and produce unimaginable pain from what you have just experienced to unsurmountable levels yet to come. Now that we have the parameters for incorrect responses, lets discover what you believe to be the truth of events, of your memory. Citron Gaieln, we know you are...well, were, the son of two Bajoran Resistance members. You are suspected to be a Resistance member as well, despite your age. 

"With this knowledge, you too, should have been extinguished just for your association. The higher ups have other ideas on what to do with dissenters' bairns at this current time. As it may be though, we are here to determine if you have any exonerating information about the Resistance before we start you off in _my_ re-education facility. We leave no stone unturned. 

"I digress, we are here to hark and hear _your_ truth. Why don't you start at the beginning, lead me through the events that brings you to this point." 

The man was superfluous and puzzling for Gaieln. Why does he want Gaieln to recount the events? The man knew; the man was there. The man knew the truth, why address it again? "You...you were there. You know what...what you did..." protested the boy. The most thought driven response Drint had received thus far from the boy. 

"You are simple mistaken boy, " lied Drint, pressing the same button as before. Gaieln cried out in pain, his wrists a flame again in searing pain. "Tell me _your_ truth." Drint demanded, holding the button down for a total of 15 seconds before releasing. "Tell me the truth child." Gaieln shook from the residual pain in his wrists, quietly weeping. Drint reveled in the sight as he waited. The boy would respond, compliance would only be in his best interests. 

"We...we were cleaning...from supper when...when y..you came in and you gutted my father." He shakingly said, a flash of his father emerging from the doorway, sliced up and gore coming forth. Gaieln closed his eyes and brought his shackled hands to cover his eyes. _'No no no!'_

"YYou then di...did the same...same this..thhing to mo...mother" he sputtered. Drint smiled in delight, "What was it that _I_ supposedly did to her?" he derided the boy. He shook his head furiously so, his memories still flashing across. 

"You...took your blade and...and shoved it inside of her. You...you made me...made me-" he recoiled backwards as he remembered being forced to stab his open dead father too many times to count. 

"What did I make you do?" Drint asked. "I..I didn't..wa..you..you held...forced me to...stab..my father. Over and over.." Gaieln could barely form coherent responses between his sobs. 

"How many times did you do it to him?" Drint phrased his inquiry as if he hadn't forced the boy. "I..don't know!" the boy cried out. He didn't know, he had been distraught to observe. 

"By our reports you stabbed him 41 times." A truthful statement by Drint, he kept great track of the minutiae, especially for something he thoroughly enjoyed. "Come now, what else did you do, what happened after _you_ stabbed your own father? What about your mother, what was done to her?" he pressed on about. 

Gaieln choked on his sob, recalling how he held his mother's heart so tenderly between his fingers, the surrealism of it all. "Nnno, I..I..." he shook his head, "you...made me take...take her hea..rt! Why did...did you? Why did you...for..force me to do it‽" the boy besought, throwing his hands away from his eyes. Drint bemused by the scene, the boy trying so hard to keep himself grounded while he verbalized the affair. An impish grin, he ignored what the boy had asked. 

"What happened after that?" Drint pressured. Though the boy certainly wouldn't remember being injected with something afterwards. Gaieln looked at the man, an insolent glare turned upon him as he spoke, "I don't know...I am missing time! Then you were there again!" The child becoming riled by the various shifting emotions he was feeling. "You..you and three others, you came and took me away! You took all of them away!" Gaieln upset that there was nothing that could amend the facts. 

"If they were not taken, you and them would have died. Your parents were all dead; how would you or any of the other juveniles have taken care and provided for yourselves. No, we take you in with welcoming arms! To provide and care for our new charges. Shaping the poor young orphan Bajorans into productive members of Cardassia society. This benefits both Cardassia and Bajor, if only the rebels would understand our vision" stated Drint to the boy. Drint was a firm believer in the ideology of cohabitation, though with a heavy tipped benefit toward Cardassia then the lesser Bajorans. Peace was achievable, but only if there was complete submission by Bajor. 

Drint felt that the boy had recalled correctly the affair he caused. On the contrary he was tasking himself to alter what the boy knew as the truth. Removing every aspect he was involved. After all he was taking claim of the child. He needed the boy to trust him, and that would never take place if the real truth was still encoded and believed. Drint resetting the location on the controller device in his hand. 

"You do speak mostly truth, though you are still mistaken in some of your facts about what had happen. You _believe_ I was there, but that would be false. I took no part in this coordinated attack, just in the planning of it. Certainly a Cardassian was there, and did perhaps force you to participate in these acts against your own parents-" 

"But YOU were there! No one else was there but YOU!" Gaieln shouted at the man. Drint was taken aback by the boy's outburst. Must be getting under the boy's epidermal layer for such a response. "You are simply mistaken about that. _I was not there_. We first met back at the operations basecamp after you had been taken into custody." curtly spoken before Drint pressed on the button below the dial once more. 

Gaieln clutched his abdomen, screaming out in agony as if he was on fire. He collapsed to the lithic floor crying and withering in pain. In what felt like minutes were mere seconds before Drint released the button on his controller. 

"If you continue to speak with such falsities, you will be punished and reproved of the Absolute truth, not of your false truth you remember." he spoke once the boy had quieted down. The boy, down on his knees sobbing. 

Why was what he said not true? Certainly everything Gaieln had said was true. He wasn't shrouded to what he had done and the face of the man who forced him to participate. Why was this man trying to change the facts? The boy didn't know, wouldn't know as it was for the man's sadistic delight alone. 

Drint walked toward the crumpled boy, kneeling down in front of him. He reached out to caress the side of the boys face, though Gaieln flinched at the man's touch. "As any parental figure would want, I just want the truth, the real truth. You've faced an unimaginable trauma and it's incredulous for your memory to be reliable. That is why I am here, to help fill in the correct data. I can be the only source of truth; you must trust me of that." He spoke tenderly. Snaking his fingers through the boys curled tresses, coiling before yanking his head to force the boy to look at him. 

"I only speak the truth. You are to obey by my truth." Releasing his grasp of the boy, "Who are you?" He demanded of the child. "I am Citron Gaieln-" 

" _No! You are Nothing"_ Drint hissed out, slapping the child. "What are you?" 

"I am Citron Gaieln, a Bajoran!" he cried out, staring insolently at the man. 

"Again with these falsities. You are _nothing_ and I wish you could see this truth and avoid the repercussions of your words." Drint said before pressing down on the controller again. Gaieln cried out, clutching himself once more in pain. "If you just accept and trust the truth I speak, you can avoid all of this pain. This is mild compared to what can be raised in severity." Releasing the button, the pain slowly subsided from the boy. 

The pain was mild now, it could only raise indefinitely. Drint could also pull out more...physical, permanent methods if he was so inclined. The Qual was a newer, cleaner method of extraction and led to compliancy much easier than physical methods of extractions. 

"Tell me child, who are you?" He repeated to the boy, expecting a different answer this time. Gaieln stayed silent, refusing to answer the man, refusing to lose himself to the nihility the Cardassian was forcing on him. Drint stood from his position, running low on patience with the impudence the boy had; he reached down and yanked the boy to his feet by the restraints. "We have much work to do on you, but I do have other tasks to perform along the compound. I think a period of contemplation is in order for you." 

He pulled the boy along to a side wall, various lithic columns protruding from the wall at differing heights. An indentation carved into each protrusion. The boy's restraints encompassed his wrist and we're bound in front by a static piece of metal, the same size as the indentations. 

He lifted the boy from under his arms and hoisted him up, catching the restraints and hanging the child by his wrists, dangling two meters from the ground. The boy also faced the dark grey lithic wall, fitting for contemplation Drint felt smirking from behind the child. 

"Now I want you to stay there, stare about the lithic and meditate about the truth of who or what you are. You are nothing. You will be nothing. Repeat after me: 'I am nothing. I will be nothing' " 

Gaieln knew he had no choice, he was placed there for a lack of response to begin with. He started at cold wall, barely a whisper escaping his mouth, "I..am nothing. I...I..will be...nothing." 

"Good, now I mandate you continue to repeat that to yourself at the wall till I return to these chambers" Drint ordered, closing the controllers cover and pocketing it. He slowly walked away, exiting the room and leaving the child alone in silence. 

\------ 

1: Drogin – Drug used for sedation 

2: Kiba'avzayn! - "Good tidings!" 

3: Zerayd – A large Avianoid animal that eats both live prey and carrion. Typically black-feathered 

4: Pakariy malinzayn ça'ads! - "You do a great service." (Expression of thanks to superiors.)

5: Nou - conveys sense of timelessness and can indicate an act of kindness

6 : Brocol lerayt edek? \- "Did I hear you correctly?"


	3. O'çada Nimic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After having to spent the night handing off of a wall, he is again tasked with spilling out the truth. Which truth would he speak, his...or the Cardassian's?

Chapter 3:

O'çada Nimic

How long had he hung there, dangling in the dim stuffy heat? He didn't know, time felt so endless for him and he couldn't feel anything from dangling for so long. Especially when staring at a lithic wall that his nose almost touched, being almost masked by it. He would doze off and on, awaking to any real or imagined sounds. After the man had left, he did continue to repeat himself as he had been instructed to do. Following the repetition till it forced him asleep, exhausted by the tribulation he had to endure by the Cardassian. 

By the time Drint had quietly slithered his way back into his office, the boy had drifted back to slumber once more. Gaieln didn't awake for the noise of the door, or the heavy foot falls of the Cardassian as he reentered. Drint observed the long drawn breath of the boy in and out and knew he was reposing. He hadn't given expressed permission to do so though, and he knew just what he would do. 

He fished for the controller and adjusted the controls back to the boy's wrists, keeping the dial set to level one. He pressed the activation button which woke Gaieln up with the searing hot pain. He screamed and writhed in pain on the lithic protrusion. Drint released the button to stop the pain, "I did not permit you to rest, to sleep while you contemplate the status of your identity." Drint spat out. It did not really matter that the boy slept, it was inevitable at this point. 

"How long have you've been dangling there boy?" He questioned, again knowing that he would hardly garner any type of response.

Gaieln did not know and he told the Cardassian as much, "I..I do not know how long you left me here." He spoke to the wall though. He didn't know, time was so hard to keep track of. How long had it been since the attack took place, he did not know either. Drint surprised by the boy's own clarity. "You had been left up there for approximately 18 hours; my other priorities took longer than expected to be completed. Let us see, I believe you have been in the possession of Cardassia for what about...41 hours now. Though the amount of time you have spent, will not matter as you will always be under control of Cardassia and myself till your Pahg has been extinguished from you." The man spoke with such a superfluous drivel, statements only spoken to hear himself drone on and on, and to cement the fact that the was only one way out of this.

He left the boy hanging as he moved himself to his desk, and up the couple steps to the top of the dais it sat upon. He flicked the screen of the computing device on, glancing over the reports that came through from the time he left. He was waiting for someone to make an appearance. He had requested his favorite Glinn to come to his office. He had a very specific task to give him. Plus, then the Glinn wouldn't have to push paper as much, having an excuse to be physically active within the encampment. 

A half an hour had passed before there was a ding at the door, bringing Gaieln back to reality. "Enter," stated Drint. In walked another Cardassian, Glinn Mirrn Lirel, 10 years his junior. "Kiba'avzayn!" The younger greeted his superior as he moved himself further into the chamber. "You requested to see me Gul?" he inquired, though Drint hadn't looked up from his screen. He had just gotten back from Cardassia Prime, having to take care of some personal matters back on the home world. 

His attention was grabbed when he saw the flaccid body hanging from the wall. "Aye, I see you are _entertaining_ a guest my dear Gul." He spoke as he redirected himself to the person, sauntering his way to the child. "And who might you be?" Mirrn addressed the suspended boy. Gaieln was unsure if he was to respond, unknowing. "Not one for conversation are you child?" He goaded. 

"With his ties to the Bajoran Resistance, he has been biting his tongue. Only with _sufficient_ coaxing does he respond." Drint addressed Mirrn. He switched his screen off having finished reading and got up from his seat. "Though evidence supports that he merely has ties to the group and is not deeply ingratiated like the initial intelligence reports stated." There was no reports and there was no evidence. The boy would have acted in a completely different manner if he was a resistance member. 

"Bring him down from there, I need to see if any of his time contemplating had any effect." Drint requested of Mirrn. "Aye Sir, " came his curt reply. Mirrn hoisted the child off the lithic protrusion easily enough. He set the boy's feet to the ground and released his grasp. Gaieln crumpled to the floor, feet and legs numb from his pendulous state. "Whoops~" came Mirrn's sprightly reaction from the boy collapsing. "How long was he up there for?" Mirrn inquired as he erected the boy to standing, keeping his grip smartly so under the boy's arms. The boy, his back still turned away from the younger Cardassian as Mirrn guided him toward the dais. Gaieln only stumbled as he was forced forward; Mirrn in turn just picked him up just enough to carry him over the rest of the way. He wasn't as patient as his Gul could be. 

He placed the boy close to the base of the dais, grip still upon the boy to keep him from slipping again. Drint descended from his desk, controller in hand. "Release him, he should be able to stand without a crutch." He ordered Mirrn who complied, finding Drint was correct. He moved himself from behind the child to stand next to Drint, taking in the sight of his Gul's guest. 

Deep Auburn, unkempt curled tresses sat upon the boy's head, falling half down the child's neck. Mirrn reached out a hand, fingers settling under the boy's pale chin, raising it to meet the boy's olivine eyes with his own deep amber. A lovely specimen his Gul had in his possession. Drint looked on as his Glinn avidly visually inspected his _guest._ Mirrn withdrew his hand, "I do wonder Gul, as you do, to see if he was successful in his rumination that you set forth." He spoke, curious to see what his Gul was trying to achieve. 

"So very good of you to ask Lirel. I ask you here in part to participate; doing so is impertinent to a task I have assigned you." Drint responded, holding his hand out, controller presented to the Glinn. Mirrn knew what it was for, having seen the Qual in action previously. On the contrary, he had never been given the chance to control one of the devices before, the idea was enthralling to say the least. Mirrn slipped it away from his Commander's hand. 

Gaieln blenched when Drint presented the device to the other. He staggered backwards a few steps, realizing that the questioning would begin again. Drint took notice, "He may not be a rebel, but he certainly has an alert sense of observational skills." he retorted, Gaieln shifting in his spot. Mirrn sensing the nervous energy emanating from the boy.

"Let's try again boy. You are aware of the plenary minutiae already, let's see if they were mired into yourself." He addressed the child who was already down casted and boring his fearful eyes into the lithic ground. "Who are you? What are you?" Drint began again. Gaieln clenched his hands tightly, anxiety swelling in the pit of his stomach. He knew what answer the man wanted; it was not the answer that he wanted to give. He was not just _nothing._

"I...I am Citr--." His voice quivering trying to force himself to speak. Drint could hear where this was going again and interjected, "Tchk, you are yet again deluding absolution. You may be these things you say and believe, but you are _nothing_. If you could only accept this truth." Drint irked at the boy's disobedience. He snapped his head to Mirrn, "program for the bauk1;. Raise it a level." Drint instructed turning his attention back to the child. "As you know, I am a very _patient_ man, but your insolence may shorten that restraint I possess." He threatened.

Mirrn reset the controller to the instructed appendage, clicking the dial to indicate the next level. His Gul was certainly a patient man, he had seen it time and time again, although that still didn't cancel out reparations for any difficulty that was given. His Gul was a _very_ generous man when it suited him; certainly so for Mirrn due to Drint's nepotism towards the Glinn after his wife had been killed. 

"I will ask once more, who are you?" Drint curtly asked. Gaieln was still downtrodden, not wanting to give the man the answer he wanted. He could feel the stare of the older man, his anxiety level raising more and more. If he held out too long...he knew what was going to happen. Drint could see he was going to get nowhere without some coaxing. 

Drint turned toward Mirrn, "Execute the Qual Lirel. A minute will do, perhaps it will get my intentions across." he ordered to the Glinn. Mirrn hesitated but a moment before he depressed the button below the dial. Immediately the child screamed out in pain, clutching his abdomen. The pain had doubled from before. Fervid and ineffable the boy convulsed from the pain; tears, spittle, and caterwaul was put forth from the boy. Gaieln's knees gave way and he sank to the floor. A long sixty seconds of the feeling of his insides being ripped from his body.

Drint was bemused and showed such gaiety at the boy's plight. It could all be avoided, but the child was being insubordinate to his adages. Mirrn however did not take as much delectation from this Qual device as he thought he would. He released the button after the allotted time had passed. The boy's cries quieted down with the abatement of pain, hunched over and sobbing; hyperventilating from the residual pain. A caliginous frown fastened to Mirrn's face. _'This is about trust'_ he reminded himself. Superiors often made their subordinates participate in difficult tasks. A child wasn't any different than a loved one in this example. A test of loyalty to prove himself to his Gul. 

"Yan-pret Cardăsa-çăk!2; Tell me the truth!" Drint's voice gruff. Gaieln's sobs quieted, "I...I am...I am...nothing" he croupily pushed out before devolving back to sobs again. Drint brought both of his hands together, pleased that the boy had received the message loud and clearly. Depending on the recountment of the events that Drint had been involved with from the boy would only instigate the usage of the Qual even further. There could be no doubt in the child that Drint was _never_ involved in the destruction of his parents. Almost forcing the child to take in the guilt that it was all his choice in the participation a sadistic Cardassian manipulated him into. He would _never_ be at fault. Why would he, he was after all going to be the boy's almsgiver and the child was going to have to trust him unconditionally and be ordinate. 

Mirrn noted the irresolute and diffident tone of the boy's response. Was that all his Gul was trying to produce? For the child to deny himself? "If he is _nothing_ , as _he_ says Gul, what else are we to address him as?" The Glinn's tone sardonic, trying to hide his own resolve about this immersion of time. Mirrn didn't know the child's nomen3, his Gul had prevented the juvenile from uttering it. "You are to refer to him as _Nimic_ 4 and nothing more at this current time. He will not have any agency anymore." Came Drint's curt reply. He had nothing and would be nothing. "As for you Nimic, now that we have established that you know the truth and the correct facts of the matter can you recount the events leading to your capture and at the present moment? Failure to respond will not be in your favor. So let's start, what are we, 40...41 hours since your Bajoran Resistance cell was hit and you were taken into our custody, what happened?" Drint demanded of the child. "Do quit your bemoanment, you've had plenty of time to exuviate your lacrimal glands. You've had enough time to contemplate your situation and to expel your emotions." 

What the man said was true, surely he didn't have to weep like a small child. He had to be stronger than that, they wouldn't have accepted his proposal into the resistance if they thought he would fail. Not that it mattered now. That future would be squashed from him now; there would be no escape besides death and it didn't seem like that would be permissible, at least not easily for this man didn't seem to want his death. No just toy, play with him and force him to speak lies. 

He sullenly nodded, still staring at the lithic. He had to comply, at least in some function. He would comply, would recite the chain of events, but he would not comply with the man's lies. He knew it wouldn't settle in his favor, but he mustn't forget the truth. 

"Good, it's such a _pleasure_ that we have an understanding in your position. Get to your feet, stand at attention _Nimic_ , show some respect when responding to your superiors." Drint coolly slithered out at the physical response from the child. 

Gaieln wiped his face clean with his sleeves, it was time to pull himself together. He then steadied himself as best he could against the lithic floor, his wrists still bound in front of him. Pushing against it, he forced himself up, awkwardly sliding his knees from the ground to an upright standing position. He faltered a moment, but remained standing. Both of the Cardassian men watched the boy struggle to bring himself to attention. At least when he wasn't being defiant, the child could follow orders given. 

Gaieln glanced up, both men imposing as they waited for him to speak. He shifted in his place, his anxiety swelling in the pit of his body. "You may speak," Drint spoke to him, seeing the hesitation tremble through the boy. Gaieln frowned, knowing he had to speak. "We...we were cleaning up after supper when..." he trailed off as he saw the elder Cardassian glare narrowingly at him. "My father stumbled into the kitchen. He was...he had been...gutted. He fell to the ground." He stuttered, trying to stay calm. His eyes darted from the older man to the other; controller perched in the man's hand. He swallowed hard before returning his gaze to the elder. "Yyyy...you can...came shortly after my fa..father." His voice trembled, panic rising. 

Mirrn's focus was solely on the child as the boy began to speak. Mousy, fear apparent in the boy's tone as he replied to Drint. He could only wonder what his Gul did to the child in the first place; a stirring of excitement latched itself to his expression. Drint's face soured, the child did not express the correct truth. He withheld from another round of the Qual, despite the irritation. "Go on _Nimic_." He lowly replied. 

Gaieln had expected to collapse in pain again, but it did not come. He heard the man, malice dripping from hid words, "You then ddi...did the same to my mmm..mo...mo..ther. Sh..she was trying to...to pro..protect me." The boy shuffled back a few steps fearful, body trembling. "Pro...protecting me...me from you."

The boy was quaking in fear as he spoke. Drint stayed where he was, bemused by the boy's discomposure at his recitation. The boy was expecting punishment, Drint knew that. The child was speaking the incorrect truth and the boy knew it too. While it was reality, Drint was trying to manipulate said reality to benefit only himself. He would withhold from punishment till the child corroborated the rest of the story. Even if it was not what Drint wanted to hear; he did want to see if they boy could keep his composure this time around. 

Drint nodded to the child to continue, a wicked grin across his face as they boy would recount their little game. "You...you tttrapped me...ma..de..forc..ced me to..to.." He didn't want to speak it as the memory flashed excrescently his mind. "What was it that _I_ supposedly _forced_ you to do?" front harshly questioned the boy, taking a step forward. Gaieln stepped back, wanting to maintain distance and out of grasp. Gaieln looked down, "I had to...you...you made me play...a..a..game. It...wasn't a...game! You...you held my...forced me to...to st...stab my...my fath..er!" The child raised his voice, nervousness apparent. "Then I...I had my mo...mother's he...heart. You made me...made me cut it...it out of her! Made....made me hold it; nuzzle it! Why‽ Why did you force...force me to do these things‽" Gaieln sparked out, glaring at Drint. He wanted to know why this man made him do such horrendous things. 

Mirrn was taken aback by the lad's sudden outburst, not expecting the meek thing to have any will left in him. The story the boy spun certainly sounded like the Gul. Always a production for his entertainment. 

"Ha! You are mistaken _Nimic_ , I have not done any such acts." Drint chuckled out his lie in response. Mirrn cocked his head at his zgul's reply. Why would the boy be mistaken? From his reaction and tone, it would seem that the lad would be truthful. Gaieln shook his head at Drint, it wasn't true, the man had been there. Mirrn's attention was regained, Drint snapping his finger toward him. "Yes Sir?" He responded not realising he had been given an order in the midst of his thoughts. "Ouvrisupum5 the Qual Lirel. Do not hesitate again Glinn." snapped Drint. "Aye sir, " replied Mirrn before pressing on the button. Immediately the child screamed out in pain, his abdomen once again inundated with pain. He hunched over, clutching himself to the best of his ability. Mirrn had not been told the length of time, and continued to hold the button down. 

Gaieln just wanted this all to stop! Why did this have to go on in the first place? Drint snapped his fingers again at his subordinate and Mirrn released the button. His interest was piqued though as the lad didn't beg for his life, but then again begging wouldn't do any good for the child. The Gul was vengeful, but about what Mirrn was unsure of. The boy probably didn't even know either, just that he was under control of Cardassia just for who he was.

"You see _Nimic_ , this is why you are here with me. The truth needs to be ascertained, and from our last _interview_ and this one I can see that you still believe in the falsities of the event. You ask me why I did this, why I forced you to do that, but you merely are suffering from such a traumatic encounter that you can't seem to think straight. _I_ was never in your home. _I_ never personally exterminated your guardians. You merely lay your blame on me. You lay your guilt on me. I was the overseer of this little excursion, and as such did not get involved in the physical raid. Our first encounter was at our base camp after you were taken into custody." Drint explained to the boy, and Mirrn. Drint recalled himself closer to the child; in turn Gaieln tried to keep his distance, but Drint was having none of that and grabbed a fistful of the boy's hair. Gaieln cried as the man forced him to lock eyes with him. 

"This can all dissipate if you would embrace my absolution. I can be the only one you can trust, and know what I speak will be the truth. You will learn in time that I can be the only one you will embrace as your sole provider in life. I, and by extension Cardassia will be the only truth you will have.

"Now tell me _Nimic_ , was _I_ the one who raided your home?" He question, pulling the boy's head further back. Gaieln defiantly replied, "You are lying! I know YOU were there!" A growl emitted from Drint, irritated at the child for his insolence. He brought his other hand to the boy's throat, tightly gripping the delicate, pale flesh. Mirrn licked his lips at the sight of his Gul manhandling the brat. This scene only excited the younger Cardassian; he too wasn't innocent to the Gul's maltreatment, albeit in a more hedonistical fashion. He was ever in the favor of his Gul, being taken in under his wing after the Gul had lost his wife and son. 

"You are erroneous and infuriating. _I was never there_." The man spat out, fingers constricting. Gaieln brought his bound hands up to try and push the man's hand away from choking him but to no avail. He choked, "A...Carda...Cardassian was..was there." Gasping trying to speak. "Hmph," was the only thing Drint spoke before relaxing his grip around the boys throat, his other hand still entangled in the boy's tresses. "Yes a Cardassian was there, good, what else?" Drint pressed, pulling the child's hair further. Gaieln cried slightly, "He...was there...he..was the one. Nnn..not..you." He squeaked out. 

What a pleasant turnout from the boy, Drint satisfied that he may have broken through. "What was that again?" Feigning politeness, only wanting to hear the child repeat it again for confirmation. "You were never there." Gaieln coldly spoke, defeated, exhausted. He just wanted this to end. 

Mirrn marveled that his Gul got the lad to give him the response that he craved. What was his Gul up too? Drint released the child's tresses, stepping away from him. He retreated to his Glinn's side, "You see what a little coaxing will provide. It won't stick for long though, he is a defiant brat and I only expect him to recant at a later time." He spoke taking the controller back from Mirrn's grasp. He slid the cover back down on it before handing it back to his subordinate. Gaieln kept watchful eyes on the men as the elder addressed the other, messing around with the dreaded device. "For now, this is a great first step. He will see that this was caused by just a Cardassian male, just doing his job and following my orders." 

"May I request an aside Sir?" Mirrn requested, glancing over to the child who was staring at them, well more specifically the device being used on him. He wanted to know more of the man's plans, but knew the lad had to be kept in the dark about it. Why else would he be punished for speaking his truth. "Certainly. That device will be for you Lirel, I have another for myself." Drint replied back after Mirrn took the controller back. Gaieln watched as the younger Cardassian pocketed the device in his front left pocket of his jacket

Unbeknownst to Gaieln, Mirrn saw the child watch him pocket the device. Something that Mirrn noted for use later, it would be a useful bargaining chip to get the child to do as he wished. Not that he would use the device on a regular basis, he preferred a more hands on approach with dissenters; was a much more satisfying sensation for the younger man. Drint motioned for the younger Cardassian to follow him up the dais with a flourish of his arm. Before ascending, Drint spoke to the child, like his was nothing more than an animal, "Stay where you are _Nimic_ I do not need to you causing any more trouble." Gaieln solemnly nodded, he would be good. He didn't want to be in any more pain for the moment. 

The two men retreated up the steps to the dais, which led off to a small hallway. Once out of sight and earshot They stood facing one another. "What is it that you must know?" Questioned Drint. "What is it that you are trying to achieve with the lad Lorian? He doesn't seem to be of any threat to Cardassia." Mirrn inquired, leaning against one of the walls, dropping the public pleasantries to his Commanding Officer. Drints demeaner changed, softened almost as he went and caressed Mirrn's cheek. 

"Well Mirrn, as you are aware of what took place several years ago with the tragic loss of my beloved wife and son. This raid was specifically planned to exterminate the two Bajoran Resistance members solely responsible for their deaths. Sure we took out the rest, but they had not been the main target." He started with such validity. This had been an act of vengeful revenge against the boy's parents. They had led the attack on a small Cardassian Research outpost, mainly full of Science officers and their bairn. The outpost ended up being exploded and suffered a total loss of personnel. Mirrn did know about this; having met the Gul soon after. 

"I see," as he understood the reasoning behind this raid, still not understanding why Drint was trying to procure a different chain of events. "Why are you trying to erase your involvement in the eradication of his parents? I would think you'd _want_ to take credit for the decimation; goad the child along at his expense. Heh, does he not know why you have a vetted interest in him? Why _you_ targeted his parents specifically?" Mirrn bemused by his own questions, knowing it would rile his Gul up. Drint was, as Mirrn predicted not as receptive of this as Drint shoved him hard against the lithic wall. "Just as _roiled_. I wonder now dear Lorian," Mirrn coquettishly slithered to his Gul. "Your dissemination of events leads me to believe that this action you took was unsanctioned by the High Command." A bemused smirk skittering across as Mirrn felt the tension rise between them. Struck a chord within the older Cardassian. 

Drint, one hand upon the younger's shoulder, the other went to grasp the lower jaw of Mirrn's. "Procacious as ever; always testing my forbearance. _You will not utter a word of this_ , your redressment for defiance will be arduous." His face up close to Mirrn's, body entrapping the other. There was no refusal for what the Gul wanted and demanded from him. Drint retracted himself, he could trust the Glinn; in which that he would hold such discretions discreet. "We will discuss this later." Drint trailed as he retreated back to the dais.

Mirrn followed suit, and when they both emerged at the top of the dais, the child was standing in the spot he had been ordered to. Gaieln watched the men descend the steps from the dais. He tried hard to listen, to gain insight on what they had been discussing out of sight, but it proved fruitless. He had taken to surveying the room until they made their reappearance. 

"Lirel, I do have a few tasks for you in regards to _Nimic_." The elder Cardassian began having regained his composure. Mirrn nodded, "He has yet to be taken for Intake and assigned his quarters. I know how much you _enjoy_ extra paperwork Glinn. He was kept off the initial intake reports per my request when he had been presented to me at base operations.

"I will be transferring custody of _Nimic_ to you at this time. I do trust you will keep him in line while he is interned" Drint stated, be didn't have the time to keep tabs on the child, but his Glinn certainly would. He was the administrator of Drint's juvenile Re-Education camp, and was his job to have tabs on everyone working and living in the camp. Mirrn's face lit up with excitement at the prospect. Absolute control over the life of the lad. Drint could see he chose well, Mirrn always going above what Drint usually requested from the other.

Yet again, Gaieln was changing hands. Neither man was a favored choice for the boy, but he would have no say in the matter. He had heard about these camps from his father before; hordes of youths rounded up, forced to be re-educated and being used by Cardassia as tools against their own people. Collaborators. Gaieln, having been absorbed in his own self failed to see the two approach him. 

Mirrn approached Gaieln more forwardly as Drint stood close by. In the man's hand he held the key, twirling between his fingers. "You may be interned here, but that does not mean with some good behavior certain freedoms cannot be given. Though the more gained, more can be taken away again." Mirrn spoke as he grasped the boy by his elbow, glissading his fingers down the child's bound wrists. He carefully interpostulated the key into the lock, a careful three quarter turn to the right and the left shackle clicked opened. He turned the key back to the original position, then continued another three quarter turn to the left and the right shackle clicked opened. Flicking the shackles looser, he slid the bondage mechanism off, and carelessly let it clatter to the lithic floor. 

Gaieln flexed his dark, violaceous, bruised wrists. Free at last from that bondage. He felt the man swing himself to his side; draping an arm around Gaieln's shoulder, hand resting on his collarbone. He flinched at the man's touch; just another uncomfortable intimacy forced upon the boy. 

" _Nimic_ , you are to follow just a few simple rules while you are here. You are not allowed to fraternize with the other Bajoran youths. You will be housed alone, in isolation. You are to follow anything that is ordered to you by a Cardassian. You are not allowed to refuse. Reprimandment would defer to Glinn Lirel during your internment." Drint motioning to Mirrn in reference. "His word is just as absolute as mine is out in the camp" Mirrn taking to rubbing his fingers against the child's clavicle as a show he could do as he pleased. The child squirmed from his touch, but didn't put up much resistance against it. 

"You are to report to the educational center within the camp every day. Failure to do so will force us to withhold rations from you. Repetitive offences, well Lirel will have to take further admonishment to keep you in line. He is rather fond of creative discipline _himself_ as it were." Drint extracted an isolinear rod from a pocket and held it out to Mirrn, "This contains the necessary information the processing center will need. I will require it back." 

Mirrn reached out and took it from his superior. He pocketed the rod. "You are dismissed!" Drint stated, turning heel back to his desk upon the dais. Gaieln watched the elder retreat away from them. He felt a pull against him from the other man, "Come boy, we are done here." He followed, having no choice in the matter. Mirrn retracted his hand from the front of the boy to settling on placing it on the nape of Gaieln's neck. He led the lad off and out the door, on their way to next stop: Intake and Inspection. 

\------

1: Bauk – Abdomen 

2: Yan-pret Cardăsa-çăk! – For the love of Cardassia!

3: Nomen – Name

4: Nimic – Nothing

5: Ouvrisupum –  Energize (superior to subordinate), used in this case as an order to engage the Qual controller device.

6: O'çada –  You (singular, superior to subordinate)


	4. Hintik'udu o'çad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaieln gets the lay of the land seeing that he no longer was on Bajor,. He becomes exposed in vulnerability as he is chaperoned by Glinn Lirel through the intake process every other Bajoran youth had. Under a strict eye the Cardassian takes great pleasure in false threats, his amusement rising in this governance he was tasked with.

Chapter 4:

Hintik'udu o'çad

Mirrn steered the child through the dimly lit corridors, silent as they moved their way through the building. This building seemed to be a maze, one that Gaieln couldn't make any headway for. They had designed it to disorient the average person from escaping the facility. After what felt like forever of trudging along, they emerged from the dark corridors to the bright, warm, and dusty landscape that Ba'tasehvt mor'vasti1 the reeducation camp was situated on. Gaieln's eyes watered from the stark contrast of the dark building, he stumbled and felt the man's hand grip the back of his neck to keep him from falling about. 

After a few moments, he was able to focus and take in the landscape. Red dusty earth covered as far as he could see, mountains surrounding the valley the encampment was situated in. Heat scorched vegetation littered the valley, condensing further away at the foothills. He certainly wasn't on Bajor anymore with it's lush, fresh vegetation, and cooler atmospheric temperatures. Several buildings, mostly built from the red lithic, encircled the perimeter of the camp, with smaller structures skittered within. 

Mirrn guided them along, watching the child flick his gaze around to take in his surroundings. It had to have been the first time the boy had been outside since his arrival. "Certainly not at all like your precious Bajor, but it will be your new home." Mirrn broke the silence, causing Gaieln to stop his observations. "It is not as beautiful as Cardassia Prime was either, but it certainly does it's job." He continued, as they came closer to the intended building. A rather large building, geometric in shape loomed closer to them. 

The doors swooshed opened as they approached, the man's fingers relaxing their hold upon his neck. Sterile, pale walls greeted them as they entered the atrium, a single round observation desk sat in the middle, flanked by two more unmarked doors. As they approached the receptionist, Mirrn released his touch on the child as she greeted the Superior officer, "Kiba'avzayn!" Mirrn would regurgitate the same greeting back to her, as was expected in their formalities. "Welcome back to Ba'vasti, Glinn Lirel. Was your visit to Cardassia Prime fruitful?" she inquired. He had almost forgotten about his visit, his mind too enraptured by his new prospect. "The bounty it brought was ever succulent, twas a good visit to the home world." A frivolous response he gave, while it had been a successful trip, it was mainly out of obligation than naught. 

"Who do we have here?" She asked once she caught sight of the Bajoran youth standing next to the Glinn, a look of unease plastered on the child's face. An impish grin flashed on the man's face, "Ah yes, he is the reason I am here, at the request of Gul Drint~ It seems _someone_ was missed in the initial intake of the most recent raid. Admittedly, that would have been under the Gul's request when he was brought into custody." Effervescent in tone, he swished around in his pocket for the isolinear rod Drint had offered him. He presented it to the woman, "I will require that back, but the dear Gul did specify it should have what you need for your database." 

She took the Isolinear rod from him and inserted it into a port in her console. She copied over the information, but there was a few sections missing. "It would seem Glinn, that his nomen and age are left blank here. Do you happen to know what they would be?" She asked, glancing at the boy who was looking at the floor. 

"I am unaware of those details. He and others have been barred from his own name. He is currently being referred to as _Nimic_ per Gul Drint." He spoke back. He did not know, as Drint was very adamant about stripping the child of his name. "He is currently a member of the Bajoran Resistance and must be supervised at all times. Is Dr. Erlir ready?" He inquired, wanting to move this encounter along. His answer was acceptable, not that she could have objected to her superior.

"I see, " came her reply, adding in the few notes from the Glinn. She pulled the isolinear rod out and handed it back to Mirrn, "She should be, it's been quiet today. Go in through the door to the left of you, then you'll go to exam room 5. I'll let her know she has a patient." Mirrn pocketed the rod once more. He placed his hand on the lad's shoulder, steering him off to their left. The door swooshed open as they approached and he led the boy inside. 

Another sterile corridor, several doors flanking down the stretch. Mirrn walked behind the child, still guiding him along. Mirrn took the opportunity to retrieve the Qual controller from its pocket and placed it in the same pocket the memory rod was stored in. Watchful while making the switch as to not alert the boy. It would be best if the child still thought he knew where Mirrn placed the controller. All the more better to threaten with it. They arrived at the end of the hallway, exam room 5 to their right. The obscured glass door opened to them and he shoved the boy inside releasing his grasp; he followed suit. He wasn't to leave the lad alone, oh no. The room was barren, similar to the room Gaieln had been in previously. Empty except for an exam table, a computer, and an array of medical devices. Gaieln didn't remember much from the other facility though, having been sedated most of his time there. Mirrn moved himself to lean against a wall, keeping himself out of the way. It gave him clear view for his focus.

A few minutes pass and the door opens again, Dr. Erlir making an energetic appearance. Gaieln looked to the female Cardassian as she entered, a frown plastered to his face. This only meant that there would be more prodding done, like they hadn't already done that enough when he had the device installed into him. The Doctor glanced at Mirrn, off to the side. It wasn't like the Glinn to be here, usually not involving himself in these trifles. The juvenile though was the oldest they had gotten within their camp in some time. "I didn't take you to be the type to hold governance and be a _parmani_ 2 over a juvenile; who did you irritate?" She jokingly asked. 

"I suppose you could say I did irritate somebody, but this task was given before that. This was tasked specifically to me to fulfill by Gul Drint. He is not to be left alone; you see, he is highly suspected to be a part of the Resistance and has been very _intransigent_ during his initial arrest as it were." Mirrn started, speaking only partial truths. "Due to this, I was assigned to be the security detail for him to enforce cooperation and behavior modifications as needed." He absentmindedly ran his hand over the initial pocket the Qual controller had been placed. He could see the spark of concern prick the boy's verdigris eyes as he taunted the child. 

Erlir gave an affirmative nod. She remembered several years ago the higher volume of Bajoran youth entangled in the Resistance. They had a much more difficult time _integrating_ them, requiring a firmer hand than most of the interned youths now. This one didn't quite seem like he would put out much trouble, but the word of the Glinn rang true to her prior experience. 

She approached the boy, "From the files you provided, he has been seen once before? This exam I feel will be redundant. Certain labs and scans won't be necessary."

"Nonetheless, it is required for our paperwork and database. He was only examined as a precursor to an installation, under orders by Gul Drint." 

"As I have gathered." It seemed a big excessive for such an outfitting for the youth, made him out to be such a _threat_ yet was not restrained. "Doff your linens, " she addressed the boy. The exam normally was a through capturing of someone, in this case. She wouldn't take any scans or take anything from him...today, as the report held that info and wouldn't be changed from a rotational day's difference. But she would have to take other measurements and basic vitals just as general routine. Denote any distinguishing features or lack thereof. 

Gaieln stood unmoving to her request, nervously looking down. "I could cut them off of you for non-compliance instead." She shrugged, no matter some just need somebody to do everything for them. Though in this case, it was more out of defiance than anything else due to the youths presumed age. Mirrn was bemused by the boy's rather lackluster response. Why the lad wouldn't comply was such a frivolous hindrance. "Or rather, _I_ can _coax_ you to disrobe. No need to be wasteful when we have _alternative_ methods for compliance." Mirrn interjected, Gaieln flicking his head up meeting the man's gaze. 

"Yes, I can certainly _coax_ you, but it would benefit you more to comply with Dr. Erlir." He continued, snaking his fingers into the prior pocket, almost as if he was to grasp the device that no longer resided in it. Gaieln nodded his head, he did not want what the man was implying. He had had enough for a lifetime, yet he knew there would be no escape from it. " _Good_ , I'm glad we can see the benefits for _compliancy_ together." Mirrn coolly replied, pulling his fingers out of the pocket; grinning as he saw the lad relax only slightly when he withdrew his empty hand. He flourished the empty hand in the boy's general direction, "Onward," he ordered. 

Erlir heeded the two's interaction, certainly yes the boy seemed to have suffered under someone's hand to comply under threat almost too easily. He was young though, and the Qual typically wasn't used on a juvenile internet. His behavior did not fit with other Resistance juveniles she had worked with in the past either. He was mousy, demure, and quite aloof; yet he was plenty observant. Scanning every single area of this room, over and over again; a form of distraction as well. Eye contact only with the Glinn, and his voice drawing him to attention. 

Gaieln bit his lower lip as he slowly went to grip his outer tunic; lifting the cloth above his head. He let it fall to his side on the ground. He continued, stripping the undershirt off letting it join the other. He had dropped his gaze, unfastening his jodhpurs. Pushing them down, he stepped out of the breeches; they too added to the pile at his feet. He hadn't been given underclothes after his previous medical examination, and thus he stood nervously exposed to both the Cardassians. Dr. Erlir went to her work, manipulating the youth so she could intake what she needed. He was acquiescent with her, especially since she wasn't handling him roughly.

Mirrn, all too pleased with himself as he leaned against the wall. _'Hmmm,'_ he thought the lad certainly could be toned for agility as he indulged himself in the vulnerability cast in front of him. The boy would have the potential for _many_ uses for Cardassia; Mirrn was quite certain of that. He would be tasked in doing so, he was fairly positive about that. What Drint may want from this situation as much as he.

Gaieln was compliant, he had no choice. He had never being so intensely measured before for every little thing on his body. Every little space was documented by the doctor; she speaking aloud for things that were not mechanically or digitally captured by the various devices to be captured by the medical computer. 

"...Seven ridges..." having ran her finger from the top of his brow to the tip of his nose. 

"...right ear pierced, yet missing his d'ja pagh..." 

Mirrn mused to himself, ' _Confiscated when he was arrested, no doubt.'_

"...Gaunt, ribs highly pronounced..." The doctor spoke as she ran both of her hands across his ribs. He was malnourished, but many of the Bajoran youth were when they lived in Cell Factions. Often having minimal supplies to sustain themselves having been cut off from the tidings that Cardassia was offering. 

Gaieln nervously shifted his gaze as he was examined, avoiding the eyes of the man. He didn't need to confirm that he was being watched; he could feel the man's penetrative gaze boring into him. The doctor continued, poking and prodding his body. "Turnabout, " she clicked twirling her finger in a circle. He did as he was indicated to, turning and grasping the exam table. From the change of orientation Erlir could see the trail end of the freshly healed incision marring his nape. Using her fingers she pushed the boy's red-ochre hair up to inspect the wound. Gaieln gasped as her fingers touched the sensitive skin that held the Qual device within him. 

"Still sore I see. Looks like they rushed the closure." She stated letting the hair go. She reached for a hypospray which she placed upon the boy's neck. Gaieln jumped at the cool metallic touch; with the push of pressure, and Dr. Erlir gave the boy an antiphlogistic injection to help with the discomfort. This wasn't an ideal situation for him to begin with.

"What was that?" came a curt question from the Glinn. Carefully watching...feasting on the milieu of the examination without much comment. It was unremarkable beyond the child's physical reactions to the Doctor's sterile touch.

"Oh nothing too fun, just a little antiphlogistic. Those down in the 

Kirrklt3 are so sloppy. Don't need him dying due to inflammation or infection now do we?" Came a rhetorical reply back. There was a strict note on the boy's file for no drogen or much of anything to be administered to him really. This was nothing quite as serious and not unwarranted in her view. "Mmmm-hmmm," came Mirrn's only response. It was a satisfactory answer from the Doctor after all, and he was no medical expert. 

There was nothing more to be done, this whole procedure and the air of weird and awkward interactions was dolorous and unpleasant. "You may garnish yourself now. I have everything I need for my reports for his file." Erlir took a few steps back to give space to the boy. Gaieln did not make a move, just because the Doctor gave her permission; he would only be permitted if the Superior spoke it so. 

"Go on _Nimic_ ," he spoke with the same inflection of his dear Gul. He saw the hesitation before he commanded the lad, knew the boy had some semblance of the order of superiority already. Mirrn would have to correct that though, as the boy should follow through with any Cardassian's orders. 

Gaieln squatted down and retrieved the various cloth on the ground, resettling them on the cool table. He grabbed for the drab colored jodhpurs, poking a leg into each side before slipping them up over his hips and fastening them. Mirrn never breaking his gaze as the boy did as he was told. His attention solely on his charge. Dr. Erlir took notice to the Glinn's altruistic and possessive energy as she retreated to the console in the room. She observed that his attention had been solely on the Bajoran ever since she came in the room to begin with. 

Gaieln finished dressing, this whole thing...reproachful and distressing. In the course of a night and his world was changed and full of rigidity. Forced to play by someone else's truth and rules. With a force that his parents had tried so hard to fight, to abstain from the Cardassia propaganda and words of false truths. 

"Are we finished here?" Mirrn asked, pulling himself to attention from the wall; he too was tired of the sterility of this encounter and he had still more to do with the lad. "I suppose we are. If you exit the hallway to the right of this door you'll come across a depository and console. I am unsure if it's currently manned though." She affirmed and directed the two to their next stop. 

"No matter if there isn't, I would need to bypass the normal parameters that have been set irregardlessly. Gul Drint has different interests set for the lad beyond just _reeducation_. I do not know what it will entail just yet, but all I have is speculation on the known data." 

Dr. Erlir had to withhold from rolling her eyes at the Glinn; Mirrn was always superfluous, but this drivel was of no interest to her at this time. She would rather not know more than he was granting privy to; made it easier to work with the orphaned Bajorans, unattached, unlike the nurserymaids. She waved her hand off in the form of dismissal at the Glinn. 

Mirrn took the hint that he had overstayed his welcome. "Come,"

came his cool command. Gaieln stiffened, but turned to face the male Cardassian. He hesitated a moment, but forced himself to step closer to the man. Mirrn squared up to his right side, arm swinging around resting on the boy's shoulder. Guiding...pressuring him forward and through the door. 

Back at the pale hallway, Gaieln felt the man pull him in closer, leaving no personal space between them. Leading them off to the door to their right; they entered a much shorter hallway that opened to another atrium. Shelves lined the wall, all neatly organised. Bedding and personal linens. Earthy and drab. As they approached the console in front of the depository, it was indeed empty of personnel. Gaieln was led around the console where he was released. He resisted the urge to step back from the man at his release, it wouldn't help his situation in the least. 

Mirrn took a seat at the computer, tapping at the console bringing up the juvenile quarters. There was only a few sections that the lad could be housed in to begin with. They were at a 75% capacity as it were with the newest intake of Bajorans youths, with upwards of four in a room, grouped by age and gender typically. Infants tended to be housed in a different building right outside the main youth quarters. 

Though where could he place the boy; where he would be isolated away from the rest, no chance at socialization. There were several 'Special Quarters' that could be utilize for this purpose. Singular units, with the potential to have only two or three person's in the building at a time; they hadn't been used in some time though. It was ideal for the Bajoran youth to all be grouped like chattel awaiting slaughter. Far easier to contain and control when kept together. The lad was of special consideration though, not merely a cur like all the others; one to be put into service for the good of the Cardassian Union based on the intel he surmised earlier.

Mirrn clicked his tongue when his eyes popped over the layout. He could place him in either the Tau or the Omicron quarters. They were furnished and ready for use, the others were being used for storage he knew. Tau was closer to the Reeducation Centre and the Omicron was closer to Kirrklt and Drint for the matter. It was also close to two detentional cells if needed. The further away he was from the rest, well, all the more better and pleased Drint would be with him. 

Gaieln scanned the console screen alongside the man, wanting to get a better overlay of the camp. From the ground plan he could surmise where they had been, and where they were now; though the distance was far greater than the plan showed. He did not realise that he took a step forward to study the screen further, brushing his shoulder against the other's. He knew he wouldn't be housed up in the upper corner of the camp with the others he knew, he heard what the elder Cardassian requested. He himself saw the smaller buildings littered about the southern quadrant from whence they came and knew that would be his only choice...not that it would be his to choose. 

Mirrn cocked his head to his left, surprised at the boy's audaciousness. He knew he was studious, cautiously taking in his environment; Mirrn wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing for the lad to be engrossing himself in, but he wanted to see how far he could push this newfound inquisition the lad was seeking. " _Hmmm_ ~, what has grabbed your attention now?" Mirrn inquired watching the boy jump as he was caught. He slithered his arm around his shoulders to stop a retreat he knew the boy would try, pressuring him to stillness. "You may speak; as you have been told, you are to respond when spoken too by myself or a fellow Cardassian." The boy would need to gain his voice back if he didn’t want to be punished. It was not as fun either to have such a despondent cosset, and trying to goad him was like pulling teeth at this point. 

The man's grasp was electric and cogental, forcing him to stay where he was. He had been caught looking. Always looking at something he shouldn't be, one of the main reasons he would get in trouble with his parents or elders. The man reminded him that he needed to follow the simple rules set forth by the elder Cardassian. "No...nothing. I have not consorted anything," Gaieln lied looking between the Cardassian and the console screen. He was trying to retain his composure, as it was this man seemed a little less inclined to punish, the threat was there though. Which was true, Mirrn was more for the entertainment aspect of threats and gaining the necessary respect than from forcing his hand to do so. Not that he didn't enjoy coaxing out respect by hand, verbal and personal space encroachment produced a much more pleasurable satisfaction.

It "Uh huh," Mirrn's voice full of disbelief, mocking the fact he saw the lie. "If that were true, you wouldn't still be studying the layout. I can see you are quite keen on knowing your surroundings...I wonder how well your recollection would be." He mused, brushing back the boy's hair around his right ear. He returned his attention back to the console, he had his mind made up where he would house the lad. "I am in a quandary at the moment," he spoke drawing his hand up to the screen, "...see we really only have two buildings we could house you in." 

Mirrn brought two fingers to hover at Tau, "We could place you here, at Tau. It is more centrally located within the camp, a shorter distance needed to ensure you make it to your requirements. But, " he paused pulling his fingers to rest by Omicron, "this building is further removed from others. Closer for supervision by both myself, and for... _Him_. So I wonder where you would think be an appropriate outfitting for you to be housed?" He was genuinely interested to hear the lad's opinion. See if he would chose the correct choice or not. It wouldn't change Mirrn's choice in the matter.

Gaieln watched as the man explained his two choices...not that he knew his answer would make an impact. He would rather spend his time closer to the other youths...his friends from his home. He frowned, the correct choice was clear. Mirrn caught the pout as he turned back to the boy. "Hmmm?" Caressing the boy's shoulder he still had in his grasp. 

"Well," gulping, "where you...are going to place me would be the opposing choice to where...I would want to be..." Another thought passed though him, wondering if he could be superfluous and give the technicality. He knew it wouldn't be able to just trick the man, but he did want to push his boundries. 

_'_ _Ah huh'_ , yes, the child was correct in his assumption, "And where would that be then? Where would you chose to be?"

"I...I would chose to be placed in Omicron...–" Gaieln was cut off by Mirrn.

"–As to say that we would place you into Tau based on your assumption that you stated? For what? To make sure you made it to your requirement? Be closer to your fellow privatized youths? But ooohh you are correct; you will be housed in Omicron. I do believe _He_ would be immensely pleased to hear your choice, as we all know that he does not want to you to fraternize with your familiars." Mirrn easily could see past the child's flippant tactic and didn't want to indulge him either in it. 

"Just because you have been privy to the lay of your internment does not mean you can escape from the barren desert of this planet. You would sooner die of dehydration _if_ you even made it past the patrol than you would be to leave this place alive." He was very much speaking matter of factly; the child would be a fool to do something on the contrary. 

Mirrn released the lad so he could grab the isolinear rod from its pocket. Gaieln followed with his eyes to see where or what the man was to grab, the threat of the device sitting heavily within himself. His anxiety quelled back as the controller was not withdrawn. The Cardassian placed the Iso Rod into the console, tapping away to finalize the housing choice and saving the information to it. Once finished he popped it out and rehomed it back with the Qual controller, both still out of reach of the boy at this time. 

Mirrn flicked his eyes over to the chronometer; it would seem they were close to the midday meal, and he was sure the child was famished and dehydrated at this point of his internment. _'Must be close to two days since he was endued with any sort of victuals,'_ he mused to himself as he spun himself in the chair to face the lad, a chuckle quietly escaping forth. "Normally," he started, reaching to dandle the lad's cheek, "this would be the time I would escort you to your quarters, but..." He trailed off as he gripped the youth's jaw, forcing the child to look away from the console. Like a zabou8 caught under a spotlight. "As you have seen we are on the complete opposite side of where Omicron is situated, would be such a drag to bring you there and then back again." As he finished a klaxon blared loudly, coming from outside. He had been so used to it, but the youth certain was not.

Gaieln flinched at the sound of the tocsin, the Cardassian only strengthening the delicate grip he held on the lad's jaw. A small cry from the extended pressure to his jaw. "No need to be concerned. It is only to let us know what time it is. The Kirrklt was designed to omit sound from within and from the exterior surroundings, so I _know_ that sound may be a tad... _jarring_ for you."

He placed his other hand flat against the youth's abdomen; Gaieln trying to pull away from this invasion of his self, to no avail. "Ah-uh, ohh I'm sure you are just a little esurient." The palm of his hand sinking lightly against the youth's body. He released the boy's jaw. "I should give you provisions. You must be so famished from your ordeal." He coolly purred, his free hand traveling down the child's cheek, then down his throat with a lightness before coming to a heavy rest above the lad's heart. 

Dispair rose in Gaieln as the Cardassian caressed his skin, fingers abjecting at his throat. The man's hand coming to a rest on the racing vibration of his heart. His breathing hitched as his anxiety reached a panicked climax, frozen in his spot. "Yes, you have made good progress since we left _him_ earlier and certainly you have been behaving, albeit in such an exorbitant manner." His tongue bemusinglylicked his own lips as his eyes roamed the morose juvenile, watching the gasping respire with such alacrity. Rapt with the control he held, such specious in its beholdment. 

Gaieln brought his arms up, hooking them across the man's forearms and uprooted the Cardassian's touch. Such pomposity from the child! Mirrn's focus was broken and Gaieln took the propitious moment to back away from the man, breaking off contact. He couldn't trust anything this man offered him...manipulated into something other than who he was. 

Mirrn was surprised by the boy's actions, a little bit more ba'ou9to him than expected. Then again he also didn't have the same temperament that Drint held, and preferred a little chaw with his gaiety. No matter, he could catechize the lad later. He stood suddenly, Gaieln taking a couple steps further away. "Now, now, no need for this timorous reaction.

"You should be groveling in the dirt for such assiduity I will be providing to you; being a Parmani... _tchk_ is beneath my role here..." Like a serpent Mirrn encircled the youth's wrist, dragging him away from the console and toward the double doors that led to the dusty landscape. "We shall return here after we have some nourishment. 

Gaieln had escaped the man's uncomfortable molestation; only to be entrapped by the Cardassian again, stumbling as he was dragged back to the brightness of the Rasgălor10 and the stifling heat. 

\------------------

1: Ba'tasehvt mor'vasti – Academy of Undomesticated Orphans (shorten to Ba'vast – Academy of Orphans)

2 : Parmani – Guardian

3: Kirrklt – Drint's HQ

4: Hintik – Health

5: 'udu – Sample

6: o'çad – You

7: Hintik'udu o'çad – A sample of your health.

8: Zabou – A grazing animal native to Cardassia Prime.

9 : Ba'ou – An onomatopoeia for the sound from a Cardassian riding hound.

10: Rasgălor – remote outpost or planetary colonization by the Cardassian union.


End file.
